


Staring Contests

by orphan_account



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Angst, College AU, Ficlet, First Kiss, Gundam Wing Rare Pair Big Bang, M/M, Quatre POV, Uncertainty, companion piece to my Big Bang fic, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 04:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11395128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: I received a 1x4 request from claraxbarton, for the prompt, "Why haven't you kissed me yet?" off the Sappy Prompt list on Tumblr.This ficlet is a companion piece to my story “Been Looking So Long at My Pictures of You" that I did for the GW Rare Pair Big Bang last year. Except this is what happened from Quatre’s POV, and it’s much more condensed.





	Staring Contests

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Been Looking So Long at My Pictures of You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7664695) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



_whr d u wnt lnch??_

Quatre’s text to Wufei still sat unanswered on his smartphone screen in its dark green bubble. The timestamp read that it was three hours old. Quatre tried - and failed - not to stare at it during his poli sci lecture, his anthropology lecture, and his biology lab. Every time he heard a text alert tweet, he rummaged for his phone in his carrier bag. Of course it was just Relena liking his Facebook posts, making him wonder if it was time to turn off his push notifications, if it would help him be a little less jumpy.

Where was 'Fei?

Quatre headed to Starbucks just off-campus for a change of scenery, even though 'Fei usually preferred the one in the student union food court. It gave him the excuse to cut through the campus rose garden on his way, and to browse the front window of the art supply and drafting shop on Main Street. Quatre perused the displays of painting sets, easels and canvases on sale, and a part of him wished he registered for beginning painting, instead of Drawing 1A.

Maybe then, he wouldn’t be in class with Yuy glaring at him as soon as he walked in through the door every afternoon. Like he did yesterday. And the day before. And like he'd done from their first class session together, if he was being honest. Quatre thumbed through his Spotify list and plugged in his earbuds before he went inside Starbucks and stood in line.  
His phone tweeted at him, interrupting Lana Del Rey.

_Wherever._

_im at starbucks._

Wufei's side of the conversation went dead again for the rest of his wait in line and for the amount of time it took for the barista to give him his raspberry bar and white mocha. Quatre checked his watch; he had forty minutes left until Drawing 1A.

His phone chirped again.

“Not going to make it. Something came up. Sorry, baby. Eat without me.”

He signed off with a kissy face emoji that did nothing to lessen Quatre’s disappointment.

_Fine, then._

*

His phone call from 'Fei on his way to drawing class just as he entered the building almost made up for it. It was just nice to hear his voice, with the hint of a promise of things to come after 'Fei's last class.  
Then, his art professor made him draw a name from a wizard's hat. Heero's name. He didn't know his life would turn itself upside-down from that moment on.

 

*

Heero was cute when he wasn't wearing his nasty work clothes. Or the horrible baseball cap. The sunshine over the bridge brought out auburn highlights in his dark brown hair and made Quatre notice the intense blue of his eyes. Like his mother's lapis pendant that Quatre occasionally took out of her jewelry box, stroking his fingertip over the cool, smooth stone. It was the last birthday gift her husband gave her before she left them.

Quatre shook himself. _What the hell?_ he mused, wondering what made his mind wander like that before he answered 'Fei's text.

 

*

"He was just really short with me. I don't even feel like I did anything wrong. We usually get along so well. I don't know what happened."

The look Heero gave him screamed volumes. That he knew what happened. He merely nodded instead and let Quatre vent.

"Can you stop fidgeting?"

"Sorry. It’s so hard to sit still.“ Quatre bit his lip while when Heero turned away to wipe his fingers on a paper towel to clean off the smudges of charcoal that he’d just blended. I just like to move around."

"You’ve got ants in your pants,” Heero muttered, but he looked mollified when Quatre straightened up and resumed his pose to the best of his ability so Heero could fix the shape of his upper lip.

Quatre felt it, the moment he saw it. He watched Heero’s eyes flit away from the tiny scar, there. Saw the question rise, then evaporate unspoken. Quatre felt a frisson of revulsion as he forced the memory back down and the shame that went with it. The stinging scent of liquor. Broken glass. The sharp burn and salty tang of blood in his mouth, as he watched his father come to him through hot, blurry vision.

Heero looked at him, intrigued but uncertain.

Quatre fell apart a little. When Heero hugged him, he gathered up all of his broken pieces, holding them protectively so that none of them got lost.

 

*

 

"Are you always this reserved? Or is it just around me?"

"What?" Heero's hand paused over the paper, and he accidentally dropped the stub of pastel chalk.

"Sometimes, you just seem... really shy."

"M'not shy, so much," Heero corrected him. "It just. Sometimes. I don't know. It's just hard to get the words out."

"But you do, when you really have something on your mind."

"Well. Yeah."

While Heero drew Quatre, Quatre watched him. His relaxed posture and his occasional frowns when he didn't like a line - it took Q a while to realize he wasn't frowning at HIM - and the way his eyes would just flit from canvas to subject, taking all of him in. His sculpted cheekbones. The pink of his lips. His long, slim fingers while they held the chalk, making him wonder how it would feel for Heero to touch him.  
Heero huffed a laugh, briefly, startling him with its rarity. "You're never shy around me."

"Nope."

"I don't make you nervous?"

"Nope."

"Some people say I'm not a people person."

"Maybe if they've only been talking to you for five minutes. You're different once you open up." Quatre remembered belatedly that he was talking too much. Heero still needed to draw his mouth.

"Uh." Heero set down the chalk and wiped his fingers on a handful of crumped rags. "So... so're you."

Warmth bloomed in Quatre's cheeks and spread down his neck.

“Can I ask you something, then?"

"Fire away."

"Why haven’t you kissed me yet?"

"What."

In his surprise, Heero sent the box of chalks flying when he went to return the one he had.

"Why haven't I what?"

"Kissed me?"

And Quatre gave him a hint of a smile, even though his heart was pounding and his palms began to sweat. Heero flushed, Quatre saw it, and he saw his fingers clench. Watched his throat bob a little as he swallowed.

Quatre almost didn't believe it when he walked out from behind his easel, removing the barrier between them. Until he touched him, fingertips brushing over the back of Quatre’s hand where it rested against his knee. Quatre’s heart stuttered, breathing quickening, when he reached up and gently stroked Heero’s cheek, then cupped it.

There was no turning back from that kiss, when it happened. And, deep in his gut, Quatre knew there was no chance of him staying with ‘Fei.

It terrified him.


End file.
